Blade Runner

Plot

Note: There are several versions of Blade Runner.

In Los Angeles, November 2019, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) a retired police officer, is arrested at a noodle bar by officer Gaff (Edward saint Olmos). His former supervisor, Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh), tells him that several “replicants”, biologically engineered humanoids that serve as soldiers and slaves in colonies on other planets, have escaped and come to Earth illegally. As a “blade runner” while active, Deckard’s job was to track down replicants on Earth and “retire” them.

Bryant shows him a video of another blade runner (Morgan Paull), administering a Voight-Kampff test, which distinguishes humans from replicants based on their empathic response to questions. The subject of the test, Leon (Brion James), shoots the tester when it is likely he will be exposed as a replicant.

Deckard concurs to track down Leon and three other replicantsoy Batty (Rutger Hauer), Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) and Pris (Daryl Hannah)fter Bryant threatens him. These replicantsyrell Corporation Nexus-6 modelsave a four-year lifespan as a failsafe to prevent them from developing emotions and desire for independence. They might have come to Earth to try to have these lifespans extended.

Deckard is teamed with Gaff and sent to the Tyrell Corporation to ensure that the Voight-Kampff test works on Nexus-6 models. While there, Deckard discovers that Tyrell’s (Joe Turkel) assistant Rachael (Sean Young) is an experimental replicant who believes she is human; Rachael’s consciousness has been enhanced with childhood memories from Tyrell’s niece. As a result, a more extensive Voight-Kampff test is required to refer her as a replicant. During the testing Rachael recommends that Deckard himself be tested.

Roy and Leon enter the eye manufactory of Chew (James Hong); under interrogation, Chew directs them to J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson) as their ideal chance of meeting Tyrell. Rachael visits Deckard at his apartment to establish her humanity to him, showing him a family photo. She leaves in tears after Deckard tells her that her memories are implants. Pris meets J.F. Sebastian at his apartment in the Bradbury Building where he lives with his manufactured companions. Deckard finds an image of Zhora in Leon’s photos.

Deckard goes to an area of the city where genetically engineered animals are sold to examine a scale found in Leon’s bathroom, learning that it came from a snake made by Abdul Ben Hassan (Ben Astar). Hassan directs Deckard to a strip club where Zhora works. Deckard “retires” Zhora, whose death takes place in slow motion as she struggles to flee. Deckard meets with Bryant shortly after and is told to add Rachael to his list of retirements, as she has disappeared from the Tyrell Corporation headquarters. Deckard spots Rachael in the crowd but is attacked by Leon. Rachael saves Deckard by killing Leon, and the two return to Deckard’s apartment, where he roughly initiates sex.

Roy arrives at Sebastian’s apartment and tells Pris they are the only ones left. They acquire Sebastian’s help after explaining their plight. Roy discovers that Sebastian is suffering from a genetic disorder that accelerates his aging. Under the pretext of Sebastian informing Tyrell of a move for a game of correspondence chess that they are playing, Roy and Sebastian enter Tyrell’s penthouse. Roy demands an extension to his lifespan from his maker. Tyrell explains that Tyrell Corporation never found a way to accomplish this. Roy asks absolution for his sins, confessing that he has done “questionable things”. Tyrell dismisses this, praising Roy’s advanced design and his accomplishments. He tells Roy to “revel in his time”, to which Roy comments “Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn’t let you into heaven for”. Roy then holds Tyrell’s head in his hands, gives him a kiss, and kills him. Sebastian runs for the elevator, with Roy following. Roy rides the elevator down alone, and Sebastian is not seen again.

Deckard arrives at Sebastian’s apartment and is ambushed by Pris. He retires her just as Roy returns. Roy punches through a wall, grabbing Deckard’s right arm, and breaks two of his fingers in retaliation for Zhora and Pris. Roy releases Deckard and gives him time to run before he begins hunting him through the Bradbury Building. The symptoms of Roy’s limited lifespan worsen and his right hand begins failing; he jabs a nab through it to regain control. Roy forces Deckard to the roof. As Deckard attempts to escape Roy, he leaps crossways to another building but falls short and ends up hanging from a rain-slicked girder. As Deckard loses his grip, Roy seizes his arm and hauls him onto the roof. As Roy’s life ends, he delivers a soliloquy on his life “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I’ve watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time; like tears in rain. Time to die.”

Gaff shouts over to Deckard, “It’s too bad she won’t live; but then again, who does?” Deckard returns to his apartment to find Rachael alive. As they leave, Deckard finds an origami unicorn, a calling card left by Gaff. Depending on the version, the film ends with Deckard and Rachael either leaving the apartment block to an uncertain future or driving through an idyllic pastoral landscape.

Comparison with novel

As a result of Fancher’s divergence from the novel, numerous re-writes before and throughout shooting the film, and Ridley Scott’s never having read the entire novel on which it was based, the film differed significantly from its original inspiration. Some of the themes in the novel that were minimized or entirely removed include: fertility/sterility of the population, religion, mass media, Deckard’s uncertainty that he is human, and real versus synthetic pets and emotions.

Philip K. Dick refused an offer of 0,000 to write a novelization of the Blade Runner screenplay, saying: “[I was] told the cheapo novelization would have to appeal to the twelve-year-old audience” and “[it] would have probably been disastrous to me artistically.” He added, “That insistence on my part of bringing out the original novel and not doing the novelizationhey were just furious. They finally recognized that there was a legitimate reason for reissuing the novel, even though it cost them money. It was a victory not just of contractual obligations but of theoretical principles.” In the end, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was reprinted as a tie-in, with the film poster as a cover and the original title in parentheses below the Blade Runner title.

The producers of the film arranged for a screening of some special effects rough cuts for Philip K. Dick shortly before he died in primeval 1982. Despite his well known skepticism of Hollywood in principle, he became quite enthusiastic about the film. He said, “I saw a segment of Douglas Trumbull’s special effects for Blade Runner on the KNBC-TV news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.” He also approved of the film’s script, saying, “After I completed reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce apiece other, so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the motion picture and someone who started with the motion picture would enjoy the novel.”

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Blade Runner characters

With the exception of Harrison Ford, Blade Runner used a number of less well-known actors such as Daryl Hannah and Sean Young. The cast includes:

Actor

Character

Notes

Harrison Ford

Rick Deckard

Coming off some success with Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Ford was looking for a role with dramatic depth. After Steven Spielberg praised Ford, he was hired for Blade Runner. In 1992, Ford revealed, “Blade Runner is not one of my favorite films. I tangled with Ridley.” Apart from friction with the director, Ford also disliked the voiceovers: “When we started shooting it had been tacitly concurred that the version of the film that we had concurred upon was the version without voiceover narration. It was a f**king [sic] nightmare. I thought that the film had worked without the narration. But now I was stuck re-creating that narration. And I was obligated to do the voiceovers for people that did not represent the director’s interests.” “I went kicking and screaming to the studio to record it.”

Rutger Hauer

Roy Batty

The violent yet thoughtful leader of replicants; regarded by Philip K. Dick as “the perfect Battyold, Aryan, flawless”. Of the many films Hauer has done, Blade Runner is his favorite. As he explained in a live chat in 2001, “BLADE RUNNER needs no explanation. It just IZZ [sic]. All of the best. There is nothing like it. To be part of a real MASTERPIECE which changed the world’s thinking. It’s awesome.”

Sean Young

Rachael

Tyrell’s assistant. Rachael is a replicant with memories that belonged to Tyrell’s niece.

Edward saint Olmos

Gaff

Olmos used his diverse ethnic background, and some in-depth individualized research, to help create the fictional “Cityspeak” language his character uses in the film. His initial addresses to Deckard at the noodle bar is partly in Hungarian, and means, “Horse dick! No way. You are the Blade … Blade Runner.”

Daryl Hannah

Pris

a “basic pleasure model”.

M. Emmet Walsh

Captain Bryant

Walsh lived up to his reputation as a great character person with the role of a hard-drinking, sleazy and underhanded police veteran typical of the film noir genre.

Joe Turkel

Dr. Eldon Tyrell

This corporate mogul has built an empire on genetically manipulated humanoid slaves.

William Sanderson

J. F. Sebastian

a quiet